Last Post before heading Down Range (part Duex)

I like using this Blogger program but it is hard to manage pictures so I broke this post up into two pieces.  On Saturday Jason had a Lacrosse game so it was an early wake up call to get JT to the game on time.  The plan was for Karen to take JT to the game and for me to get the RV packed up, bring it home and then get back to the game.  At the rate we were going we were going to miss the game.  As I was driving by the field it looked like there was enough room in the parking lot for me to get the RV in there so I went for it.  Good thing I did because I got there 2 minutes before half time only to discover that Dan Sanders had a surprise for me.  As some of you know I have been helping out as an assistant coach on Jason's Lacrosse team (my main duty is to stand behind the goal and throw the ball back on the field).  Dan had everyone sign a poster for me and then they presented that to me at half time in front of the crowd along with a photo album and a T-shirt that had a picture of the Hernando Crusaders Lacrosse team.  It was an incredibly moving event for me and I can't thank Dan and Mario (the head coach) enough not only for this gesture but also for allowing me to coach with them. When I found out that I was going to Afghanistan I dropped out of Ironman Arizona and spent my training time helping out with Jason's Lacrosse team.  It has been fun spending time with JT and getting to know the other kids on the team.  I definitely made the right decision on that one.  

We got the RV home and cleaned out and then took it to storage.  Kind of weird knowing that I won't be driving the RV for a couple of months.  We have a big trip planned for when I return so it is something to look forward too. 

Last Post before heading Down Range

Well, this was our last camping trip before I head "down range" for a couple months of Temporary Duty.  It is Easter Weekend and our good friends, the Mitchell's were in town.  Their kids had Spring Break this week and they came down to FL on Monday.  We met them Thursday night at 1000 Trails, Orlando where we stayed in the RV.  Tony has stayed with me before in the old RV when we did the MiamiMan Triathlon last Veteran's Day weekend.  This weekend we decided to join them for a day at Universal Studio Orlando.  I have never ridden so many roller coasters in my life!  Everyone had a great time.  At the end of the day we went to see the Fear Factor Live show and after watching it I thought, "I can do this".  So I let Tony talk me into trying out for it (I am sure Tony has a different version of the story but since it is my blog it is my version).  Long story short we got picked for the show and we had a great time.  The first event was a hang from a pull-up bar 40' above the floor.  This contest eliminated 2 of the 6 contestants so I just had to outlast two people.  James (the guy on the far left of the picture) ended up winning the hang so he got to pick his team mate for the next event and he chose Tony.   I got Felicia for my team mate.  The next event found me hanging from a rope while Felicia had to stick her hand in a tank full of eels and grab a bean bag to throw to me.  Her aim was WAY off and we didn't do to well.  Tony advanced on to the finals (he ended up 2nd) and I got to take the walk of shame :-(  All in all it was a fun time and Tony ended up getting two free tickets for his efforts.

Blog update

OK, a couple of folks have commented that I haven't updated the blog lately so here goes (and I guess that proves people are reading it).  I have done a couple of loads of laundry now and my take away is it works but I need to get a spin dryer instead of ringing by hand.  I bought a rack to hang the clothes on to let them dry so that helps.  Cooking has been going well.  It is amazing how many things you can cook in a cast iron skillet.  I have done a couple of steaks and a couple of chicken breasts.  I have done bacon/eggs and corned beef hash on the grill a couple of times.

During the week I have been leaving for class at 0630 and getting back about 1730 so cooking dinner and clean up leave me with a couple of hours to watch TV, read or go for a mountain bike ride.  On the weekends I have considerably more free time.  I usually get in a good 30 to 60 minute run and I try to mountain bike for awhile.  Today I think I am going to go get some sushi for dinner.

I have brought a couple of movies from home but since I have already seen them they are only kind of interesting.  I think I will have to invest in a satellite system when I go to Norfolk.  I guess I can save up all the extra pays I am going to get while I am downrange and treat myself to the satellite system when I get back.

It was COLD last night

Temperature got down to 26 degrees.  I saw that it was going to get chilly in the weather forecast but when I went to bed it was still in the high 50s.  Got up this morning and noticed the thermostat said 54 degrees!  Quickly turned on the furnace since the lone electric space heater wasn't cutting it.  Then I went to make a pot of coffee and discovered the water wasn't working.  Uh oh.  I went outside to find my water hose frozen.  At least nothing had ruptured so that was a good sign.  I bent the entire length of the hose with my hands and that was able to free up the ice enough that I could get the water running.  I guess I will have to invest in some heat tape to wrap around the hose to keep it warm when I full time on the RV in Norfolk.

Laundry Day

Boy, it is pouring hear in Fayetteville, NC so I decided it would be a great time to do the laundry.  We didn't buy a big enough RV where a washer/dryer was an option so I have to either go to the Laundromat or come up with another answer.  After scouring the web I came across the WonderWasher and I decided for $45 I would give it a try.  Needless to say it involves a lot of muscle power but that is OK since I am using the RVs electricity to power the electric heater right now (well, I am getting warm by that and muscle power :-))  It does a fairly good job cleaning and rinsing clothes.  It will do as many rinse cycles as you want to do.  I didn't buy the spin dryer yet since I wanted to see if the WonderWasher would work out.  Thus I have to wring the clothes by hand and then hang them in the shower with the fan blowing on them to dry them out.  The system works but I have to make sure I am not planning on taking a shower anytime soon since the clothes and me won't fit in the shower together (another laundry alternative I considered).  I am done for the weekend so now I need to figure out what to do with myself.  I am thinking of going to Home Depot to buy another electric heater since it is supposed to get below freezing tonight.

FT Bragg, NC

Well, I am here.  Camped at the FT Bragg Family Camp known as Smith Lake.  It is located right next to the Army Airfield.  I sure hope the helicopters don't keep flying all night or there won't be a lot of sleep tonight :-O

Smith Lake is pretty rustic.  It is located outside of the base.  It appears there are only about 12 full hookup sites and maybe the same number of water/electric sites.  The camp is about half full.  It looks like there is going to be some great running here (plenty of hills) and some great mountain biking.  They actually have 3 trails.  I rode the beginner trail today and it wasn't very challenging which was probably good.  Tomorrow I start class so I am not sure if I will get a chance to ride or not.

The roads in SC were very bumpy.  I almost stopped at South of the Border for fuel but I remembered the last time I was there about 14 years ago at 0200 in the morning.  Many unsavory people around.  Gas was the cheapest by far in SC.  

The trip begins!

OK, so the trip was supposed to begin yesterday.  Sunday night I decided to put my route into Mapquest just in case I had problems with the GPS.  While looking at the maps I noticed that I was adding a little more than 400 miles to my trip by going to Indian Spring State Park, GA and Carolina Landing 1000 Trails campground.  Whoa!  I didn't want to be doing that.  The trip was going to be long enough already.  And the trip from Carolina Landing to FT Bragg brought me south and than east to go north.  It was definitely the great circle route.

I did some quick research and discovered a Resorts Preferred International (RPI) park in SC that was about 70% of the way to FT Bragg.  I decided to give that park a try since we have an RPI membership with our 1000 Trails membership.  So instead of leaving Monday I got on the road Tuesday at 0550.  The trip was uneventful until the end.  Gabby (our GPS) took me down a dirt road and like a fool I went along thinking "isn't technology a wonderful thing?"  Two miles later the road was a dead end and of course I was towing the Pumpkin (our Honda Element) so I can't just do a three point turn.  Get out, on hook the Element, back it off to the side, three point turn (ok, more like an 11 point turn) the RV, hook up the Element and get going again.  Turns out I went about 10 miles out of the way.  Oh well, the point of this trip is to learn lessons for when I move to Norfolk so that goal was achieved early :-)

Now I find myself at The Oaks at Point South RV park.  Seems like a nice enough park but right now a torrential rain is moving through so I am not doing much exploring.

On the way up I stopped at the Camping World in Savannah, GA.  Camping World is to RVers as Starbucks is to yuppies.  Can't pass one up if you see it.  

Now that we have finally got the RV out of FL we can proudly display a state map with the states that we have visited colored-in.  Only three states but it is better than one!  

MaxxFan

Today's project was to get some ventilation in the RV.  I am a little disappointed that though our RV has two a/c units (which can make it plenty chilly) it only has one roof vent to the outside.  Our old Class C had a vent in the front and a power vent (i.e., a vent that had a 12V fan that could blow air in or out) in the bedroom.  With that combination you could really get a nice outside breeze flowing through the Rv.  Our Itasca only has one vent (not counter the bathroom vent) and it doesn't have a fan.  After posting a couple of questions to the forum I follow iRV2-Winnebago owners someone replied that there was probably already 12V power to the vent since it is easiest to build RVs pre-wired.  So our research turned to a powered vent.  There are really only two choices Fantastic Vent and MaxxFan.  The Fantastic vent, while a great product, involved switching out the vent which meant pulling up sealant which after our class C experience I did not really want to do.  The MaxFan just bolts on top of the existing vent.  What could be better :-)

We went with a TurboMaxx 

and $197 and 2 hours of Karen and me

 working we had a fan.  Actually it was more me because Buster ended up sitting on Karen's lap and she could only hand me tools :-)  

Tomorrow I will start loading the RV for my trip.  For my deployment I got issued warm weather and cold weather gear but I have a feeling that I won't want the cold weather gear so I am planning on leaving that behind.  I will still bring it to my training though just in case they tell me to take it.